


Crumb trail

by JanaRumpandRCJawnn (JanaRumpandRCJawwn)



Series: Don’t look away [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Anxiety, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Suspected Cheating, implied depression
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:14:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14951841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanaRumpandRCJawwn/pseuds/JanaRumpandRCJawnn
Summary: Kei couldn’t help but search again and again for any signs that this would happen. What had been the tipping point?





	Crumb trail

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there! Jana here writing a fic solo for once. Before any possible angst induced panic just know that I’m a sap and love these boys.  
> Based on a classic yak post

Kei woke up in his childhood bed and to a ton of notifications on his phone.

Though expected, given that the group chat between him, Tadashi, Yachi and Hinata always blowed up when they had a night out planned, he still sighed for old times’ sake. He didn’t plan to read one lick of the increasingly drunk mess of a conversation the others had surely written through the night, but then he saw his private chat with Tadashi had something unread too, so glasses on it was.

And then he froze.

The message was short, timed at a bit after five o’clock. ‘I fucked up Im so sorry’. The lack of a kaomoji or even an exclamation or two itself spoke volumes of how not okay Tadashi had been writing it, so he immediately went for the group chat to see if anything had gone wrong. His patience ran thin just rolling back to the begining of the night, when he’d silenced his phone to have a proper dinner with his mother for her birthday - Tadashi hadn’t managed to take a few days off work to make the trip with him, but he’d seemed fine the last they talked, had wished them a great celebration with a voice that usually came with his most lovely smile (though Kei did think all his smiles were the best in their own way), but anxiety spells came at any time and he had vowed to both of them to always be there for his boyfriend no matter what.

Their tiring flow of texts kept up until around four thirty, when Tadashi himself said he was leaving the party alone and for the the other two to keep going at it with no worries, that he would take a cab home and talk to them in the morning. It seemed perfectly light hearted, not a hint otherwise. 

The only explanation he could think of was something he hadn’t ever wanted to cross his mind. He really thought they had been fine lately, great even, but then he had to admit at least to himself that he wasn’t the best boyfriend one could have, too busy with his job at the law firm, too quick to complain and scorn, still so bad at showing his love. Tadashi had cheated on him, and for a couple minutes Kei just sat there on his old bed, all rumpled and lost and not having the faintest idea as for how to proceed.

After a few staling breaths he got up, made a grab for his overnight bag without bothering to look for his other clothes and rushed to the front door. He didn’t wake his mother or brother up, instead just texting them that he was sorry to leave early but something had come up at work, because no way he’d have kept his composure enough to lie to their faces and he didn’t want to ruin everybody’s morning just to match his own. He barely remembered to put on his shoes before heading to his car and speeding home as responsibly as he could.

The next four hours were excruciating, nothing but endless stretches of road and his circling thoughts to keep him company. Kei couldn’t help but search again and again for any signs that this would happen. What had been the tipping point? Him forgetting their anniversary as always last week (Tadashi had let it pass too, or maybe that had been a lie to avoid a discussion), him bringing in another cat without asking (he thought Tadashi had loved their third surprise pet, but what did he know), him spending too much time at work since his promotion some months before (it did lead to even less free time together, specially now when the team Tadashi coached had some important games coming up)? Or his boyfriend had finally gotten fed up with his inability to be sociable, to go to parties with him, to invite friends over. Or perhaps he was just too boring overall, too much work to manage, too needy without giving enough back. 

And throughout it all, he was certain of only one thing, that he’d do anything he could to make it up to his boyfriend and keep him by his side. Kei wouldn’t deny that he was hurt, very much so, his heart aching with each beat and eyes burning with the tears he felt too stupid to let out. But Tadashi was a great person, as kind as one could get, and whatever he’d done surely wasn’t his fault, surely he’d had a reason to get to this point. And he hadn’t said they were over, at least not yet, so they still had a chace to work this out. Hope was the last to die and all.

Too soon but also an eternity later he was parking right in front of their building, bright blue sky and hot sun almost mocking above. His steps were even enough for anyone who didn’t know him, his hand didn’t shake as he opened their door, he didn’t slam it behind him. Not two seconds passed before Berry was rubbing cat hair all over his pajama pants, Bubble following at a slower, three legged pace and Bean not showing more reaction than a flick of his scally tail from his perch, as usual. The only missing piece was an _okaeri_ from somewhere in the apartment, which meant much more now than it would have any other day - and wasn’t that failure enough on his part already, never caring for the details, never really making an effort (everything had always felt so easy with Tadashi, but then maybe that had just been him half-assing their relationship all along).

Their tiny living room was just as messy as it always ended up, cat hair and scratches peppering here and there, mismatched pillows on the floor, papers from both of them scattered around. At least there weren’t any strange clothes thrown over the couch or unknown shoes by the door, but Tadashi did say he was sorry and probably wouldn’t have left anything to salt the wound anyway. There _were_ some of his boyfriend’s partying clothes on the ground, making their way into the hallway and presumably towards their bedroom, and Kei picked those up hastier than he’d have in another situation, rushing to put them in their hamper and out of sight. 

And that had him standing right on the doorway to their bedroom, hesitating to open the door. Not that he thought on the other side he would find whoever it had been Tadashi had met last night (unless it hadn’t been a one time occurrence after all, but he really needed to spare himself that bit of wondering if only for now), but getting in meant facing all of it, meant waking his boyfriend up like he had countless times before, seeing him drooling on his pillow and his hair snatching on his piercings, but now lacking the certitude that this would happen again and again with no end in mind.

Kei took a deep breath though, nudged his glasses in place, and pushed the door aside. He was met with stuffy darkness, windows closed and curtains drawn, familiar snoring the only sound. The cats rushed in as soon as they got the chance, and this time he truly didn’t have the energy to scold them out, instead picking Bubble up to sit on the foot of the bed in her place.

One snore, two, three, but it was better to pull this bandaid off at once, so he grabbed one of Tadashi’s feet as he often did just to be a prick, waking his boyfriend up with a start (he did feel somewhat justified at the moment, though it probably wasn’t a smart move right now to remind the other of how much of a bother he could be). The sheets rustled as Tadashi sat up with a groan, squinting in the low light before noticing him there.

And then he smiled. Large and sweet, as everytime Kei arrived from a few days out when work demanded it, as if nothing had happened. It was confusing, to say the least.

“Hey, babe. What time is it? Got here early?” He slurred sleepily, reaching for his phone on the nightstand, squeezing his eyes closed at the glare.

Kei didn’t know how to respond, stuck with a hand clutching at the cat and mouth gaping open. He’d expected apologies, had planned to try and keep calm as he asked for an explanation, to move forward however possible from there. But here was Tadashi stretching and yawning, hissing as he scratched at his hair and ended up pulling his ear along. The silence kept going, blood rushing in his ears as he searched for the courage to be the first one to talk, because he didn’t think that he could just pretend everything was normal when his heart was broken all the way through.

“Tadashi, I-”, his voice cracked like it hadn’t in years, but he choked the rest out anyway. “Don’t do this. Just tell me what happened.”

His boyfriend only blinked at him for a couple moments, eyes still not quite focused but frown falling in place. “What do you mean?”

He seemed honestly confused. Which could make sense, if he didn’t remember sending that message - he did tend to get less than coherent when drunk, and forgetful. Perhaps he hadn’t meant to tell Kei at all, and wasn’t that thought a cherry on top of how bad he felt. Not trusting himself to answer and keep face, he unlocked his own phone, brought up the damned text once more, and handed it over.

Tadashi went from confusion to a gaping mouth, and then spluttered, letting the phone fall down to the mattress and facing Kei again with wide eyes.

“I’m so sorry! I was so hungry last night and I ate the last of your cheesecake!”

“...You what?”

“The strawberry one you bought Thursday. I swear I was leaving the last bit for when you came home, but I was drunk, and that’s a stupid excuse but-”

Whatever he was going to say got swallowed up as Kei surged closer and kissed him, horrible alcohol morning breath be damned.

“Fuck”, he panted as he leaned back again, “I thought you had cheated on me.”

The answering screech was more than enough to sooth, relief flooding in as Tadashi hit him in the head with his disgusting pillow that had never felt so lovely before.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! Feedback is always great, just saying
> 
> Also, suspected cheating is on my top three favorite tropes for some reason, please hit me up with recs if you have them!


End file.
